Elizabeth Peratrovich

About

Activist for Alaskan natives who pushed for the passage of the Anti-Discrimination Act of 1945, the first U.S. law outlawing the practice.

Before Fame

Her state barred native Alaskan women from public venues that their GI brothers could freely attend; and mixing between the males and females of different races was strictly forbidden.

Trivia

She worked with both houses of Congress to pass a law providing 'full and equal accommodations, facilities, and privileges to all citizens.'

Family Life

She was adopted at a young page by a Native Alaskan Tlingit couple, and later married Roy Peratrovich, another Tingit.

Associated With

Decades after her work for natives of Alaska, Martin Luther King pushed for the Civil Rights Act to extend the same equality to African Americans.